If you want ansible tower to source an inventory file checked into a project, here's an example of how to do it.

production.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'json'
inventory_file = 'production'

# Configure inputs
# assumes a project layout with ./inventories/{{ inventory_file }}

if File.exists? '/var/lib/awx/projects/'
  folder = Dir.glob('/var/lib/awx/projects/*').max { |a,b| File.ctime(a) <=> File.ctime(b) }
  path = folder + '/inventories/' + inventory_file
else
  path = File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../inventories/' + inventory_file
end

lines = File.read( path ).split("\n")
current_section = nil
data = {
  "_meta" => {
    "hostvars" => {}
  }
}

# Parse the inventory file

lines.each do |line|
  parts = line.split(' ')
  next if parts.length == 0
  next if parts.first[0] == "#"
  next if parts.first[0] == "/"
  if parts.first[0] == '['
    current_section = parts.first.gsub('[','').gsub(']','')
    next
  end

  name = parts.shift
  d = {}
  
  while parts.length > 0
    part = parts.shift
    words = part.split('=')
    d[words.first] = words.last if words.first != 'ansible_ssh_user'
  end

  if current_section.nil?
    data["_meta"]["hostvars"][name] = d
  else
    data[current_section] = [] if data[current_section].nil?
    data[current_section].push name
  end
end

puts JSON.pretty_generate( data )

staging.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'json'
inventory_file = 'staging'

# Configure inputs
# assumes a project layout with ./inventories/{{ inventory_file }}

if File.exists? '/var/lib/awx/projects/'
  folder = Dir.glob('/var/lib/awx/projects/*').max { |a,b| File.ctime(a) <=> File.ctime(b) }
  path = folder + '/inventories/' + inventory_file
else
  path = File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../inventories/' + inventory_file
end

lines = File.read( path ).split("\n")
current_section = nil
data = {
  "_meta" => {
    "hostvars" => {}
  }
}

# Parse the inventory file

lines.each do |line|
  parts = line.split(' ')
  next if parts.length == 0
  next if parts.first[0] == "#"
  next if parts.first[0] == "/"
  if parts.first[0] == '['
    current_section = parts.first.gsub('[','').gsub(']','')
    next
  end

  name = parts.shift
  d = {}
  
  while parts.length > 0
    part = parts.shift
    words = part.split('=')
    d[words.first] = words.last if words.first != 'ansible_ssh_user'
  end

  if current_section.nil?
    data["_meta"]["hostvars"][name] = d
  else
    data[current_section] = [] if data[current_section].nil?
    data[current_section].push name
  end
end

puts JSON.pretty_generate( data )